Syllabus

A new session of each course starts monthly. If enrolling in a series of two or
more courses, please be sure to space the start date for each course at least two
months apart.

Week
1

Wednesday - Lesson
01

Are you ready to unleash the power of technology in your classroom? Today's teachers face a lot of new challenges and daily decisions, and one of the most important choices is how to integrate a slew of new technology into the traditional classroom. In our first lesson, you'll learn the important differences between the traditional classroom and the technology-friendly one, and strike a balance with realistic integration plans in a way that enhances your basic educational objectives rather than detracting from them.

Friday - Lesson
02

If you don't yet have a teacher presentation station, or if yours needs a little updating, stay tuned for helpful tips on personalizing your station for maximum educational impact. Often seen as the core of the technology-friendly classroom, this presentation station is the gateway to bringing the high-tech world into a low-tech classroom. Now, here's the fun part. With this presentation station, you can quite easily facilitate classroom PowerPoint presentations, Web surfing for all to see, and interactive group activities that run off the computer and your imagination. Let me tell you: It's a big time-saver.

Week
2

Wednesday - Lesson
03

Do you know the safest way for your students to surf the Web? In this lesson, we'll explore student-friendly Internet search engines and directories that you can use to safeguard your students' online experience. We'll also take a look at the power of the bookmark to help you keep track of all the sites we'll visit in this course.

Friday - Lesson
04

Today, we’ll start with the basics: integrating keyboarding and word processing. In this lesson, we'll cover integrating keyboarding and word processing in your classroom. You’ll leave this lesson with great ideas to integrate these skills into your classroom. Have a little fun with these activities, and take a sneak peek at the future technologies to assist in writing in the classroom. There's some exciting technology on the horizon!

Week
3

Wednesday - Lesson
05

Today we’ll explore using blogs and reading technology integration in the classroom. If your classroom reading activities need a little spicing up, check out the world of interactive reading on the Internet. We'll discuss ways to pair new reading technology and traditional ELA standards. Capitalize on your students' fascination with new ways to read and try out some great reading sites and the activities that will extend them into your classroom. We'll end this lesson with another method that you can use to enhance your students' reading experience—get ready to learn how to create a class blog to supplement classroom book clubs.

Friday - Lesson
06

It’s time for wikis and writing technology integration. In this lesson, you'll learn how to locate best software, Internet sites, and classroom activities to help your students fall in love with the written word. We'll look at some of the ways you can integrate technology into your writing curriculum by looking at NCTE standards. We'll also look at writing software and Web sites that will give you a better idea of the boundless opportunity out there. When it comes to writing, the sky is truly the limit. We'll end today's lesson with a special treat—creating a classroom writing wiki, a Web site that anyone can edit.

Week
4

Wednesday - Lesson
07

Are you ready to learn about podcasting and science technology integration? This lesson is packed full of technology and classroom tips that you can use to excite your students about science and science fair projects. Today, we'll discuss the national science standards and look at some ways to meet them as you integrate technology. Next we'll explore some helpful and interactive science Web sites. Finally, we'll look at a science lesson that integrates technology, and we’ll end this lesson as we learn how to podcast science fair project observations.

Friday - Lesson
08

Today we’ll cover using Word and Excel as we integrate technology in our math lessons. It's never been easier to use technology to meet NCTM standards and bring your math lessons to life than it is right now! In this lesson, you'll discover fun Web sites and computer activities that will bring your math lessons up to speed so that you and your students can experience the pleasure of numbers all over again. Get ready to seamlessly integrate Word and Excel in your math lessons and chart your students’ successes.

Week
5

Wednesday - Lesson
09

In this lesson, we'll explore using PowerPoint and technology integration in the social studies classroom. Technology makes teaching social studies even easier, and with the wealth of resource information in this lesson, you'll soon be meeting the NCSS standards with creativity and a technological flair. Plus, you'll learn how to invent engaging social studies activities with the Microsoft Office applications already on your computer.

Friday - Lesson
10

Get ready to explore online museums, music downloads, and art and music technology integration. In today's lesson, we'll look at the importance of music and art individually, ways to use technology to meet national standards, fun technology expansion activities you can try with no investment, and great Web sites that can launch your classroom exploration of these subjects. We'll also talk about practical ways to integrate these subjects in the midst of funding shortages on your school's part. We'll end our lesson with some basic instruction for creating a Web page where you can display your classroom works of art.

Week
6

Wednesday - Lesson
11

It’s time to discover using Web Quests and technology with diverse learners. In this lesson, we'll explore using technology to meet the needs of special needs, GATE, and English language learners. Plus, we'll take a look at customized WebQuests that engage each group of students with different activities as a part of the same writing lesson that works great for differentiated instruction.

Friday - Lesson
12

In our last lesson, we'll look at the bigger picture of technology integration—keeping our students safe and keeping up with newer technology. Computer ethics are an important part of your overall integration plans, and it's dually important to know when technology will really enhance your instruction as opposed to when it's just technology for technology's sake. Finally, we'll take a sneak peak at some of the cutting edge tech tools like using a GPS for geocaching that may be coming soon to a classroom near you.